Cool piece. I'll always be grateful to miniskirts & hot pants for obvious reasons, yes, but also because they're ubiquity among younger girls persuaded the Los Angeles Unified (& doubtless many other) school districts to abandon restrictive dress codes & just ... lighten up. I started high school in '73. By then actual minis were becoming less common. Most girls wore knee-length or just above. The great thing, however, was that they (along with us boys) also wore jeans, tee-shirts, tank tops, halters, cut-off short-shorts, sandals. Really at that point anything went.

It surprises me today to read about dress code battles in public high & middle schools. I mean, really? Also sad to learn that in the UK especially public (ie, private) schools are going to all trousers for girls to avoid arguing over hemlines.

Much rationale for dress codes is that girls dressed immodestly will distract boys. Naturally that leads girls to resent boys. The sad part is that it's bullshit. Boys might be distracted, but in the most pleasant way. I don't believe for a moment that any boy of any sexual orientation has ever complained about his female peers dressing revealingly. Parents, teachers & administrators feel uncomfortable at girls' growing maturity, so they rationalize that boys need to be protected to avoid seeming uncool. In so doing they create a needless point of contention between boys & girls.